As the Capital District High School Hockey League regular season nears the stretch run, the defending league champion La Salle Cadets are kicking things in high gear.

Tom Ryan scored twice and versatile Jack O'Bryan had a goal and a pair of helpers to lead La Salle to a 5-1 win over visiting Shaker/Colonie Saturday at Conway Ice Arena, the fifth straight win for the Cadets.

La Salle is third in the Division I standings and next hosts second-place CBA Wednesday night.

"We've been improving since the beginning of the season," La Salle coach Tim Flanigan said. "We feel that we let a couple get away from us early on, we were playing well but were immature and made some mistakes. The kids have progressed but we still turned the puck over a couple of times tonight that I wasn't happy with but overall, the kids are playing really well."

Ryan opened the scoring at the 3:30 mark of the first period to give La Salle (9-3-1, 7-1-1) the early lead with assists from O'Bryan and Ryan Murray, something the Cadets were pointing to before taking the ice for the opening faceoff.

"It's important to get on early and my teammate Jack (O'Bryan) knew that we had to do that to spark the guys," Ryan said. "Matt Powers dumped one in behind the net and Jack chased it, I was in front of the net tapping my stick and he fed it right to me and I found the five-hole."

O'Bryan, who has been taking shifts at center lately after primarily being a defenseman, scored at 4:39 of the second on a clean breakaway after Shaker/Colonie got caught on a line change. D.J. Pauley's pass from near the Cadet net landed on O'Bryan's stick before the junior went forehand to beat Jet goaltender Dan Molloy to give La Salle a 2-0 lead.

"I'm playing a little bit of both (positions) but I'm transitioning to center," O'Bryan said. "We're hitting our stride at the right time, there's no better time to get in the swing of things than right before playoffs."

Tyler Wilson gave Shaker/Colonie (4-9-1, 4-5-1) a glimmer of hope of rallying when he neatly lifted a backhander over Cadet goaltender Casey Boone and under the crossbar 21 seconds after O'Bryan's goal. But the Jets could not solve Boone again and fell behind 3-1 when La Salle defenseman Sebastian Geiger blasted a slapshot by Molloy at the 11:30 mark of the second.

"The game of hockey is momentum, we were hoping to get a couple early on," Shaker/Colonie coach Scott Rock said. "I felt like our goaltender Dan (Molloy) is strong, he had to face a lot of shots. The physicality in the game, we were out-muscled to the pucks."

La Salle put the game away in the third on Murray's goal at 6:17 before Ryan concluded the scoring at 11:48.

Sean Martin, a local freelance writer, is a frequent contributor to the Times Union.